Rollercoaster

Up until yesterday, my nurse described me a slow progressor. She saw 6 follicles on my right ovary and 6 on the left with an estradiol level of 343. This was pretty good for day 8 of the cycle. Well, I went to the doctor today and let's just say whatever I ate for dinner last night should be marketed as a follicle stimulating hormone. This morning they saw 9 follicles on the left ovary and 7 on the right and they were all a pretty good size, and my estradiol level was 552. So, I'm thinking this is good news. The nurse looks over the ultrasound and starts to explain that I moved at a very rapid rate in one night. So now I'm faced with several choices concerning the process. Because I have so many follicles near the goal size, they fear that several of them will fertilize. I went from not being certain this process would work, to possibly giving birth to a litter. The nurse brought the doctor in and they joked that my situation was resembling that of the infamous "octomom". To prevent this from happening the doctor suggested we convert from an IUI to an IVF (In Vitro), this would take only a certain number of eggs and mixed them with the sperm and place the mixture in my Uterus. My husband and I had already agreed that we would not let them talk us in to this. So what do I do now? I asked the doctor if I had a choice in the matter. He said yes, but tried to convince me to do the IVF. Here were my choices 1. Cancel the entire process and start over next month on a lower dosage of meds. 2. Convert to IFV 3. Continue the process and should I fertilize several eggs- the doctor would do selective reduction of the fertilized eggs. This is all so overwhelming. :(

Frustration......Day 28

So today is day 28 of what seems to be a never ending process. A couple of months ago my husband and I decided we were ready to start a family. I knew this process would be strenuous, but I couldn't ever imagine the emotions I have felt thus far. I was diagnosed early (at the age of 16) with hypothalamic amenorrhea. That term is just a big word to explain that my brain doesn't release the hormones that would allow me to ovulate naturally. So while at 16 years old that was not a big deal to me, now I am having to face what I now feel to be a deformity in my body. So 28 days ago I began hormone therapy and am now forced to wait.....and wait... and wait. See here's the plan 1. A 30 day hormone therapy that should produce a menstrual cyle 2. Upon menses, go to the Doctors office to get levels checked 3. Once given the go ahead, I am to start Bravelle -a highly purified preparation of human follicle stimulating hormone (hFSH) and Menopur - a highly purified preparation of naturally derived gonadotropins, called hMG. ( I know this all sounds as if you need a MD to understand but once you become branded as being infertile, fertility treatments become your world. 4. after the hormone shots, I am to give myself a trigger shot that will help follicles mature and triggers ovulation (the release of mature eggs from ovaries). Finally, I'm off to the doctor's office for 2 consecutive days of IUI's..... I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but I pray in the end it's all worth it.